


The Graveyard Shift

by ETNMystic



Series: Mystic's Original Works (Possibly Transferred From My Other Accounts On Other Writing Sites) [36]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25305238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETNMystic/pseuds/ETNMystic
Summary: Working at a fast food drive-thru can't be easy.But it's a different story when you take on the night shift.
Series: Mystic's Original Works (Possibly Transferred From My Other Accounts On Other Writing Sites) [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726699
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	The Graveyard Shift

It was late on a Saturday night when I was still in college. I was working at a fast-food joint in my hometown and my shift buddy, Rick, and I were in charge of closing up the place that night. I was anxious to get home and go to sleep, so I did a bit of a messy job. Rick was heading to the back to get mops, but quickly came to get me. He said there was a car waiting in the drive-thru lane and asked if I could take this one while he finished up the cleaning. I gave a nod and went to the drive-thru. In the camera, I saw a small car, no others behind it. I was relieved that it was only one customer. So I put on the headset and did my usual greeting.

"Welcome to our establishment. What can I get ya?"

There was no answer. I figured that maybe they were hard-of-hearing or something, so I said it again.

"Welcome to our establishment. What can I get ya?"

But there was still no response. The car just stood there, almost menacingly. It sent a chill down my spine. Why wasn't it moving? Did it get a flat tire there or something?

"Hello?" I asked through the headset.  
"Are you okay?"

No response. But then I heard heavy breathing into the mic. It sounded......obsessive, and as if they weren't fully there. Maybe this person needed a wake-up call? So I said to them.

"Excuse me? I need to know what you want."

There was no other response. Just heavy breathing. I felt chills run through me, and it was like roadkill. I wanted to take my headset off, but I couldn't for some reason. It went on like this for about five minutes before it just suddenly stopped. Then the car slowly started up and moved forward in the lane. 

"Wait!" I called out.  
"I still don't know---"

But it was soon out of the camera's view. I took off the headset and sighed. We'd had incidents like this before. Teens would drive up in their cars and then speed away before we could say anything. Maybe this was someone just playing a prank on us? I shrugged. I decided to just get a soda and give it to them, hoping that would make them go away. I didn't know it at the time, but doing that was what saved my ass from what could've happened.

I poured some Sprite and ice into a large cup and went to the payment window. To my surprise, the car wasn't there. All of a sudden, I heard a loud honking sound coming from the kitchen. I went to the pick-up window and saw that the car was there. Now that it was closer, I could make out the figure more clearly. And when I did, I froze.

It was a man, probably in his mid-50s, nearly bald with small tufts of grayish-brown hair on the sides. He had bags under his eyes and a very wide grin. His face was wrinkled beyond the point of no return, along with a five o'clock shadow. To my surprise, he held out a twenty dollar bill. It looked crisp and clean, almost too clean. It was odd because he never even told us what he wanted.

For a few moments, he sat there holding his hand out, waiting for me to take the money. I wanted to, but something inside of me told me not to. The man held the bill out even more, even nudging with it, as if he was begging me to take it. Finally I decided to just get this guy out of my hair. Keeping a hold of the Sprite, I reached out to take it. I had my hand on it when all of a sudden, the man grasped onto my wrist, and tried to yank me out of the window. I tried to call out to Rick, but that only made him pull harder, practically yanking my arm out of its socket. My heart was racing and I did the only thing I could think of. I threw the cup of Sprite at him. It hit his head and kept him distracted long enough for me to drag myself back in and get the hell away from that maniac.

I ran over to Rick and told him what had just happened. He immediately called the cops. Within five minutes, they arrived, but the man had already left. I gave a description of him to the police and we found out that he was all too familiar to them. He was a mass currency forger as well as a serial killer. They weren't sure why, but many of his victims were drive-thru workers. Apparently he'd forge bills to lure them in, and then pull them into his car when they took the bait. Rick and I both sent in our two-week notices the very next day. 

During the two weeks that we still had there, we both did our best to leave as early as possible. If we ever had to stay and close up the restaurant, we'd clean up as fast as we could and shut down the drive-thru right away. We never saw the guy again. I don't know if that was a good thing or not.

Since then I've refused to work night shifts at any restaurant I worked at, but especially ones with drive-thrus. I'm just glad that I had that soda on hand at the time, and I hate to think of what would've happened if I didn't..........


End file.
